


Nuance and Enunciation

by accidentallybroken



Series: The Magic of the Mages [1]
Category: Carry On - Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell, Simon Snow & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Made up magical creature, Magic, One-Shot, Third Year, Watford
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-25 23:12:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10774470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/accidentallybroken/pseuds/accidentallybroken
Summary: Agatha just didn't care about magic. Her whole world was steeped in magic, but Agatha didn't want it. Who was she, if she didn't take what was given to her?





	Nuance and Enunciation

     Third Year

      Agatha smoothed her hair softly behind her ears, and adjusted the sleeve of her jumper. Then she looked down into her mirror into her own soft brown eyes.

       She pulled her light-wooded wand out of her sleeve, then put it back in. Penelope had told her once, the magical properties of the wood Agatha's wand was made of, but Agatha hadn't listened closely. She couldn't even remember what wood it was made of. 

     Today in Magic Words Ms. Possibelf said there would be a surprise, a chance to use their magic at something useful. Other students in her class were excited, buzzing about what it could possibly be. Agatha just didn't care.

     It all was so tiring. Using magic for things that Normals managed just fine. Agatha always felt lazy when she used magic to clean her room, or fix her hair. She could do it without magic. However, if her mother found out that she was spending time doing mundane tasks without magic, Agatha would get a lecture. 

       " _We have magic for a reason! Agatha, you are a witch! You have magic, you can use it to make your life easier! Why are you so determined to make your life unnecessarily hard?"_

 Agatha sighed, and smoothed her skirt down around her legs. It was almost a compulsion, her constant fidgeting to make sure she looked perfect. Her father had always groaned when she took so long in her room or the bathroom.

 " _Aggie, you already look perfect."_  He would say in fond exasperation. _Now let's go!"_  Her beauty was the only thing she had, though. She wasn't as smart as Penelope Bunce, or Baz Pitch, she certainly wasn't as nice as Simon Snow, or as friendly as Gareth. If she couldn't look pretty, what did she have? 

She heard a hush come over the class as the door opened, and Ms. Possibelf came in, silver hair plaited on her shoulder. There was a woman behind her carrying something in a basket that Agatha couldn't quite see. 

      Ms. Possibelf stood at the front of the room. She always spoke softly, but with purpose. "Class.  **Come to attention.** " Agatha felt herself sitting up straighter, looking directly at the professor. "As I told you Friday, we have a different sort of lesson today. Today, we are going to be learning some simple calming spells, and we will be practicing with a baby." Agatha frowned, her brow furrowed. They would be practicing on a baby? 

     "Not a human baby, a small Edenkys." That still seemed wrong. Spelling something innocent, something that didn't have a choice. What if something went wrong? Why did they have to practice on a baby?  
    The woman behind Ms. Possibelf set the basket down, and Agatha could see the characteristic whorled hair on the pale green forehead. 

    "Mary-Catherine will be helping us today. She raises Edenki in Somerset." Mary Catherine smiled softly and waved. "Please put away your magical objects and try this out loud." 

     Agatha put her wand on the floor, just in case. There was a shuffling as those who had their objects out put them away. " **Calm down."** Ms. Possibelf said soothingly. 

      **"Calm down."** the class said, out of sync. 

      **"Go to sleep."**

       **"Go to sleep."** They repeated. 

      " **Hush, Little Baby."**

 **"Rockabye, Baby, in the treetops..."** Ms. Possibelf stopped. "

All right, class. Those are a few spells you can use. Starting today, each of you will come up and attempt to put the baby to sleep." The class shuffled in anticipation.

     "I will call you up individually. This will probably take a few days. Luckily, the Edenki are not a race that naturally sleeps often, so the baby should wake up within fifteen minutes of falling asleep. While each student is trying their hand at this, the rest of you will be working on your essay on soft consonants, silently. Not a peep." She didn't say this with magic, but Agatha had no doubt that the class would be very quiet. 

    Ms. Possibelf hesitated, then she walked over to Simon and bent her head. She spoke quietly. "I apologize, Mr. Snow, but perhaps I will exempt you from this spellwork." Simon looked downtrodden, but nodded. They all knew that this wasn't the sort of spell he excelled at.

  Ms. Possibelf crossed the classroom and stopped at Gareth's desk. "Ah, how about we start with you?" Gareth stood up, looking nervously. He walked up to the desk. Ms. Possibelf looked back at the class. "Focus, please." 

      Agatha looked down at the paper she pulled out of her bag. She hated this class. She didn't care about any of the material (honestly, magic was so pointless. She just couldn't bring herself to care.) and she wasn't fantastic with words. Ms. Possibelf always said the thing Agatha had the most trouble with has tapping into the meaning behind the words.

     Agatha tried to focus, but this was something she had trouble grasping, the subtlety of language. Give her math, computers, cosmetics, science, (Normal, down to earth, straightforward science) something straightforward! 

     She scratched her pen across the paper, but she just kept seeing the face of the innocent baby, and hearing Gareth's leaden spells, and Ms. Possibelf's soft correction. 

     "Try it again, more  _warmly_ this time." Gareth tried again, and if it was warmer, it was only by a fraction of a degree. Ten minutes later, there was a bit of noise from the back of the room as Simon's paper started smoking, and Penelope fixed it, sighing. Agatha never really knew how they were friends, the awkward Chosen One and the fearless braniac. 

     After the class quieted down after that, there was a commotion at the front of the room. Rhys had wheeled up to the front of the room. Ms. Possibelf was facing him.

     His voice rang out loud and clear. "I'm sorry, Ms. Possibelf, but I think this is inhumane and I refuse to take part in it. " Ms. Possibelf looked at him silently. She was a nice person, but if she didn't think something was a problem, then there was no convincing her otherwise. 

     Rhys had his bag on his lap. He wheeled towards the door, and struggled to push the door open. He looked back at the class. Agatha wanted to follow him, she felt what they were doing was  _wrong,_ but she stayed seated silently. 

     He left the room by himself. The class was silent, and Ms. Possibelf stood at the front of the room. "Phillipa, you next. " You couldn't tell anything had happened except for a slight edge to her voice. Phillipa got up and walked towards the front of the room. 

     

     Agatha dreaded her name being called, when it did, she walked slowly and carefully to the front of the room, palms sweating slightly. She pulled her wand out of her sleeve. Ms. Possibelf nodded at her. "Miss Wellbelove, do you remember the spells from earlier?"

    Agatha nodded at the ground. Ms. Possibelf nodded at her. "Well, go on, try and put the baby to sleep." Agatha cleared her throat. 

   " **Go to sleep."** The baby only blinked. Her voice sounded flat. " **Calm down."** The baby only stopped whining, and just looked up at her. 

    "Try to tap into the  _meaning_ of the spell. It's not  _what_ you're saying, it's  _how_ you say it, how you  _mean_ it." Agatha didn't mean it. She didn't even care. All she wanted was to put her wand down, and just pick up the baby. Normals got their babies to calm down without magic, why couldn't they?  
      "Couldn't we just..."

     "Yes?" 

     "Couldn't we just rock the baby? It's such a waste of magic, for something so small. Normals rock their babies, and the babies like it, they calm down." Ms. Possibelf looked at her with a hard to read expression. 

    "We have magic for a reason, yes? There is no reason to do something the hard way when we have magic to do it for us! That way, we can focus our energy on something more productive." That didn't seem to ring true to Agatha, but she stayed silent. 

      "Now try the spells again." Agatha did. After five more minutes of struggling through spells without conviction, the Endenkys was asleep, and Agatha was sent back to her seat. 

      Agatha realized, then, that she didn't  _like_ magic. It just cluttered things up, made things complicated, and it was so pointless. 

     Agatha sighed. She didn't know what to do. What was she supposed to do? 


End file.
